See, Kappa, if you'd called this a 'public beta', all these lovely people would be giving you helpful tips instead of the ****ty testers you got stuck with. I am wise!

I can tell you from experience that the best way to learn FRED is to do so by examining the missions of a better FREDder - I don't envy you having to go it alone, but you can always open missions from Derelict or the BWO demo or whatnot and check them out. (Tip one: never use attack orders on capships, EVER! Except sometimes when it's useful, but that's very rare.)
The campaign should be playable as is after The_E's patch, so go for it, make up your own mind.
...
*pimpslaps Battuta*
WHY MUST YOU FOOL THE INNOCENTS WHO HAVE NOT BEEN POISONED?! Gah!
All right, 'playable' might be stretching it, but it shouldn't vomit asserts like it would have under 3.6.10/12 before.
Oh and for another tip: Kappa, good place to start for FREDders is
Karajorma's FreeSpace Oracle. For bonus points, scroll all the way down!